Possum Update

Where to begin...

My last blog back in May about Tamigotchi and Saori talked about them drinking from a 5ml syringe...and they were just little babies. I'd only had them for a couple of months at that stage. Well, things have changed since then.

I've had my little guys for six months now and they are happy little campers. Shortly after I moved them into their small plastic/wire (cat sized) cage, I moved them out and into a larger cocky's cage. I put lots of climbing branches in with them so that they could exercise and play now that they were getting bigger.

They finally got the idea about lapping and that made life a little easier. Saori was the first to get the idea. Tamigotchi seemed to want to remain a little baby and have his mummy feed him by syringe, still. So cute! The above photo is of Saori.

The photo opposite, shows Tamigotchi enjoying his syringed dinner. Notice how much they have grown, yet they still enjoy getting down the front of my top! They really are just like little babies.





Be the first to check out my first video clip of the babies.

While Saori and Tamigotchi resided in their cocky cage, we hired someone to come and build them a custom made aviary/hutch so that we could get them closer to a soft release situation and familiar with outside and all the noises the outdoors brings.

I still have to take photos of the completed aviary, but after several weekends the aviary was finished and ready for the little guys. I did the majority of the painting but, at one point, Ian rocked up and gave me a hand as well. We still have a little more painting to go on the smaller side of the aviary, but we're nearly there. The larger side is for Tami and Saori and that is now completed.

After the aviary was completed, we found out we needed to snake proof it, so we had to get the handyman to come back and do that for us. It's amazing how much you learn when you immerse yourself into the whole process. We believed we'd thought of everything, but...wrong.

We recently did some major pruning of trees around our property. Ian and I chose three or four massive branch systems and we installed them in both aviaries. They turned out to be perfect for climbing and hanging fodder for the possys. It was now starting to look more interesting inside the aviary. Our plan was to emulate the great outdoors and make it as natural for the possums as possible.

The handyman, under my instruction, built a large sleeping space up high and I filled it with warm straw grass. I went to Bunnings and bought a hanging basket and two coconut husk inserts and I made a dome home for them to sleep in. It smelled awesome; very organic and it just looked like it would make a very cosy place for them to sleep. I secured it inside the high sleeping space.

I tacked some green shade cloth on one side of the sleeping space. This gave the guys some privacy and protection.

We built the aviary inside a fenced off enclosure. Each week, over many weeks, I have planted out native trees and shrubs. Ian counted up to about 46 so far. I got a surprise as I thought I'd planted out about twenty something. When these trees and shrubs mature, it is going to look awesome and provide much food for the birds and wildlife. We want to plant out many more trees so that it encourages all critters to stay away from the busy road we live on.

A few weeks back Tami and Saori moved over to their aviary. I acclimatised them to the outdoor conditions over time when they were in the cocky cage. It was perfect timing with spring coming on. They have both settled in really well. I have added little runways and extra climbing structures, as well as a rope bridge, which they love to run along. They are very good at running around their aviary and I can see they are very happy there. They have made a lovely little home for themselves.

The first time I went into the aviary to give them fresh fruit and change their fodder, I wondered what they might do? It was the first time that we'd be on equal terms (without them being in a pouch that was easier for me to handle them). I wondered if they would want to have anything to do with me? It didn't take long to find out. The first possum out of the nest and to climb all over me was...Tamigotchi! I was shocked. He'd always been the most timid of the two. Saori always wanted to snuggle with me, but Tami always kept me at a distance. Now that he was free of pouches, etc, he wanted to be with me. I was absolutely over the moon. I've always had a real soft spot for Tami because if it wasn't for him, I would never have experienced raising these orphans. He had been the one who always tried to bite me (not hard), but he always had a go at me in the beginning. He stopped biting me after a month or so, but I never dreamed he'd become so attached to me. I kind of knew Saori would be. I think Tami and I grew closer when he showed me he was not ready to lap. He wanted the syringe for much longer than Saori. Tami is approximately 3 weeks older than Saori and is quite a bit smaller than her. He is quite a small ringtail possum.

Now, every time I enter the aviary on dusk, my babies come out and run down their rope and spring on me. I love the smell of the coconut husk on their fur. They snuggle, they walk all over the back of my shoulders, up my arms and up and down my pants and tops. They help me when I put out the new fodder and interact with whatever I am doing at the time. They are very relaxed and happy.

I feed them a variety of fresh fruit and flowers from native plants. They love the flowers. Once a week I'd drive down to Victoria Point to the Fodder Forest to collect enough fodder to last a week. A friend of mine found out and invited me over to her acreage home and showed me what they grew. Their place has quite a number of established natives and lilly pillies. She kindly allows me to collect fodder from her place to save me such a drive to Victoria Point. Tami and Saori enjoy a wide variety of their favourite foods and are in superior condition. The base of their prehensile tails are very solid and strong.

Another friend of our procured two long lengths of thick marine rope which we plan to run from the aviary up into two large gum trees, so that when the time is right for their soft release, they have a way to safely find their way into the trees. Ian calls it the autobarn highway as the rope is thick and will be plenty big enough for them to successfully climb.

Before my two babies moved to the aviary, I was given two baby orphaned brush tails to raise. I've had them for approximately five to six weeks now. They weighed 226 grams when they arrived. Brush tails, I have discovered are totally different to ringtails, but are no less fun and interesting. Their names are Penny and Sheldon and I will write a separate entry about their arrival and progress at another time.

I feel like I'm in seventh heaven when I look after these gorgeous little critters. They are absolutely adorable and I feel so privileged.

Well, that's about it for the time being...

so, until next time....
cheers

Instalment 32 Sunday 8 May 2011

It's Mothers' Day today and the first mothers' day that I won't be sharing with my own mum. She slipped away last October and although for the past six or so years, she was unaware of what was happening around her, I still did.

My mum, Cecily, suffered from 'end stage' dementia for over six years and was unaware of who was around her, where she was or what she was doing. She did not recognise anyone and could not communicate. Somewhere deep inside me knows that somewhere deep inside her, she knew I was there and she knew me. I hang on to these thoughts because they help to get me through.

Dementia is such a cruel illness. It is a robber - a thief, unrelenting and of great stealth.

Even though mum may not have been aware of her surroundings or what was happening to her, she was loved. And today, I missed her a little bit more than normal. I felt the same at Easter time. Each Easter I used to buy mum a small soft toy to clutch. Her limbs had grown very stiff and she needed these little toys to take some pressure off. They worked well.

So, today marks the first Mothers' Day without my own mum, but we still remember her. I will never forget her and I pray in my heart that she knows how much she was loved.

Today is also a day to remember my mother-in-law, Audrey. Ian's mum was a true rose as well and passed away back in 2007. I know Ian and his sisters still find it hard and miss their beloved mum. Losing those we love and need is very hard on anyone. A lot of our friends have now also lost their parents and we all use our memories and photos to help us stay connected. Ian and I have lost all our parents and that makes us feel quite confronted with the fact that now we are the matriarch and patriarch of our family. Wow! I feel too young for this sort of responsibility.

As role models, it is our responsibility to make sure their memories live on for the sake of their grandchildren and great grandchildren. It is important that they all know where they have come from; their roots.

We don't need special days to remember our treasures, they are always on our minds.

However, Mothers are so important to us in many ways and so, today is dedicated to them.

My family blessed me with a lovely dinner Saturday evening at Gusto Gianni, a contemporary Italian restaurant where they serve up the most delicious dishes. It was so lovely that everyone could be together. It doesn't always happen these days, so it was very special to me.

They also blessed me with some lovely gifts. I felt very spoilt.

This morning I found a very special gift on our back lawn. Ian had found a possum box in the weekend shopper and decided to go and get it. He laughed as he told me it was a present from my baby possums...isn't that the sweetest thing?

So to every mother out there...I hope your day was blessed as much as mine.

Instalment 31 Saturday 7 May 2011

I decided I'd try Tamigotchi and Saori with a new teat today, and this worked a treat. On one of the later feeds, I decided to try to go back to the larger 5ml syringe, once I knew Tamigotchi was happy with the teat. For the past little while I've just been using the 3ml syringes because Tamigotchi has not wanted to drink from the 5ml.

Success! It is great when everything works. Both possums drank their 5ml formulas and seemed very content.

During the afternoon, I decided it was time to trial the possums in a new setting. I went over to the shed and got the plastic cage Gillian had leant me. I scrubbed it down and made it all clean and disinfected. I dried it all off.

While it aired, I went for a walk around the garden finding a couple of branches for climbing and also some leaves for Tamigotchi to munch on. Saori is not quite up for this exercise, so the leaves are for Tamigotchi, but Saori might explore them.

I brought everything back to the house and I set up the cage. By the time I'd finished, it looked like a mini forest. I added two little pouches and hung them so that should the possums decide to, they could put themselves to bed.

After the next afternoon feed, instead of sending Tamigotchi off to sleep, I placed him gently on some branches in the cage and then he took himself off to explore. He was really ready for this exercise. He found some leaves and picked them up. He held them in both hands and started to shred them. You could tell he was really enjoying himself. He was very comfortable in there.

Saori was a different story, but it didn't hurt her having a turn in there. She paced around and tried to look for a way out of there. She is a real social girl and only wants to snuggle after her feeds. She lasted in there until the last feed of the night and then I decided to put her in a pouch and back in her basket for the night. Tamigotchi spent the night in his little mini jungle.

My beautiful family took me out for dinner to celebrate Mothers' Day. We went to Gusto Gianni's at Portside. We had a great time. The food was excellent and so were the cocktails. I had the pork belly and it was superb! I love my family. They really look after me and make sure I am blessed. This year, not only am I a regular mother, but I am a possum mummy too.

Instalment 29 Thursday 5 May 2011

Today was filled with many mixed emotions. My stomach was knotted and I felt on edge. My doctor had organised an appointment with a specialist which was set down for 1:30pm and I felt nervous and tighter than a drum.

I got some jobs done through the morning and then before I had to head off to South Bank to the doctor's rooms, I fed my babies and cuddled with them. I weighed the possums today and Tamigotchi weighs 99 grams and Saori weighs 72 grams. The new technique seems to working, especially for Saori. She is now doing very well, putting on about 9 more grams since the changeover.

I received some news during my visit with the specialist, and after some more tests performed by the doctor, he revealed that I would need some fairly major surgery and so he got busy organising this for me. I have mixed feelings about surgery. On the one hand, I know it is now the best thing for me and hopefully will fix my problem so that I can get on with things. On the other hand, there are risks, as there always is with surgery, but I have to move past this and concentrate on getting through it all and look forward to when I'll be healed and life will be so much better for me. The surgery is set down for 23 May, which is very close and now I have some things that need to be organised. I experienced a little teariness during the rest of the afternoon and evening, which is probably only natural. I'll improve. Out of everything I felt concern over, I worried the most about being separated from my gorgeous babies while I'd be in hospital. The doctor said I'd be in for about four days approximately. I will miss my little babies.

Steve, a friend of ours was to come over for dinner a little later on tonight. Ian decided he would come home with Steve. Steve would stay the night and Ian would catch a ride to work with Steve in the morning. Steve is from Kingaroy and is down in Brisbane working with Ian, although we've been friends for years. They are working on the same project.

We ended up, after a unanimous vote, ordering a couple of gourmet pizzas from Sambos, down at Gumdale. Sambo is an old family friend. He makes lovely woodfired pizzas and we haven't had pizza for a very long time. We also had some lovely 'fattening' calzonne as well. We weren't disappointed and dinner was delicious. Kimmy had also made a lovely triple chocolate custard cake and we had some of that for dessert.

We enjoyed a lovely evening catching up on all the latest details in Steve's life out at Kingaroy with his wife Collette and son, Christopher. It was good to see him.

Instalment 23 Friday 29 April 2011

It was another early start for me today. I awoke at 4:30am to feed my babies and then I had to drive Ian to work. He'd gone out after work the night before to have a dinner with a couple of mates and the designated driver drove him home, while his motorbike stayed safely tucked away at work. I thought I might have a rest when I got home, but decided to keep on keeping on once I got home.

Since my visit to Gillian's yesterday, I tried to adapt to a new feeding technique which was slow going but I knew with practice I would get better. Well, I hoped I'd get better. I found feeding Saori very hard going with the drip by drip process, so I tried a new teat and I made a very small hold in the end with a safety pin. This seemed to work and by the end of today, Saori's weight had gone from 57 grams to 63 grams. It seemed things were now starting to work.

Instalment 22 Thursday 28 April 2011

Days always end up being so busy and today was no different with another trip to the doctor for me and then off to the shops to get a couple of things.

I had phoned Gillian, my possum mentor earlier in the morning to ask if I could call in to see her and she said she would be home and would be happy for me to call in. I wanted her to take a look at my babies because I was a little worried that Saori did not seem to be putting on any weight. So on the way home I called in to see Gillian and she took a look at them both.

It seems the formula, when it spills out of Tamigotchi's little mouth and trickles under his chin and tummy it reacts with his fur, and Gillian noticed that he has lost some of his fur under his chin. I hadn't noticed this. She said it was not a huge issue. She told me the formula sometimes did that to some of the babies. I did not know this before, so now I decided to make sure to take extra special care and endeavour to make sure things don't leak as much as they had.

Feeding baby possums isn't always as straight forward as you think. Most people probably think, like I did, that you just need to whack some milk in the bottle and pop it in their mouth, but it doesn't work like that at all. I am constantly learning new things along this journey.

Other than this slight set back with regard to his fur, overall, Tamigotchi was doing well and putting on weight like he should.He was now over 80 grams and Gillian said she could see a lot of growth in him. He was all fluffy, warm and cuddly for Gillian when she nursed him. It also seemed as though his toileting issues had all cleared up too.

Next, she took a look at Saori. She agreed that Saori had not put on any weight and decided to feed her and use tissues to measure any spills along the way. She weighed a tissue dry and then after Saori had eaten and some of the spills leaked into the tissue, she weighed the wet tissue. Saori works very hard on the teat and tends to dribble and bubble quite a lot and it is this that runs out of her mouth. After her first feed, Gillian discovered that she had leaked at least 2ml, which is most of her feed! No wonder she is not putting on any weight.

Gillian thought I should try to change the technique that I used to feed Saori. I laughed because I wished I was in more control than I actually was. It is really Saori's technique. I explained to Gillian that Saori loves to stand up and hold onto the syringe when she feeds. It dribbles all down her elbows and down her belly. Anyway, I knew now that I would have to be more in charge and not always let Saori have her way. Gillian suggested that I remove the teat and drip the formula, one drop at a time, into her mouth. This is a very time consuming method, but the way I saw it, I didn't really have a choice.

I bought some new teats off Gillian and was pleased that Gillian was happy with their progress anyway. She enjoyed her cuddles with them too. While I was there, I asked Gillian for a list of trees and bushes that possums love to eat. I had a plan.

It was great catching up with Gillian and as we were leaving, she told me she was off to pick up an older rescued Brushtail possum. How exciting.

We loaded up and headed home while I thought about how much more careful I would need to be a feeding time.

Instalment 21 Wednesday 27 April 2011

Hi ho...it's off to work I go, with two little possums in tow.

My feeding schedule kicked off fine this morning and I managed to finish on time and not be late for work. I had plenty of time to organise myself at school and even managed to make it to devotions.

It was great seeing the kids at school and it sounded like everyone had a lovely holiday. The day progressed well and I fed the possums in my break. No one knew they were here at school. They stayed quietly in their basket in my office. No one can see them and the reason I didn't share my news with the kids is because they would all want to see them and there are just too many students. It would turn out to be a circus, with the possums all stressed out.

When I went to feed Saori in the afternoon, I noticed she was a little bit damp. I think she leaks quite a bit of her formula. I'm not so sure how much actually makes it down into her tummy.

I worked back at school till about 5pm and then packed up and came on home. I was relieved the day had gone so well, however, I felt knackered. By about 6:30pm, I actually felt a little nausea. It's been a big gig for me, so I'm sure there was a bit of tension with regard to how the day was going to pan out.

It was all good.

Instalment 20 Tuesday 26 April 2011

Well I spent most of today working on programs and lesson notes for my return to school tomorrow. Back to reality! Ouch.

I must admit I was a little nervous as to how I was going to manage the possums, as well as teach and fit in a regular working day. I nutted out exact times to feed the possums so they wouldn't impact my work commitments. But, because I am working with animals, I know at some point things may get tricky. You know what they say...never work with children or animals...and it seems I'm a sucker for punishment because I work with both!

It is a great week for my situation, though. Today is normally a paid working day for me, however, it was deemed a public holiday so I got the day off. This means Wednesday is my Monday and my Friday - for this week only.

This is a bit of a break for me, so I can now ease into this new territory calmly and make any necessary adjustments.

I enjoyed a productive day and managed to get all my preparations completed and now everything is packed and ready to go.

Both possums are fine and Tamigotchi is now officially off his medicine. Now time will tell. I weighed both the possums this evening.

Tamigotchi is now 90 grams, and little Saori, who looks like she is getting bigger, according to my scales, has not put on ANY weight! I have no idea what is going on. She still only weighs 57 grams. How can this be?

How frustrating to think she is healthy, happy, her fur is shiny, she is very alert and energetic, and she drinks all her milk so well, but yet she is not putting on an ounce of weight. I don't know what to do.

I'll see how she goes over the next couple of days and then give Gillian a call if there is no increase in weight soon.

This is little Saori...she is my little princess. The photo above is of Tamigotchi.

Instalment 15 Thursday 21 April 2011

After Tamigotchi received his antibiotic injection and we started him on a course of Nilstat, things looked brighter this morning. He is doing well and there is no sour odour in his fur and he came out of his pouch all warm and dry.

During the day, Tamigotchi continued to do well at feeding time, but at the first of the evening feeds, I noticed he was quite wet again. This was a little disappointing. I dried him off and again, I managed to get him to go to the toilet.

I guess these things take time. Tamigotchi fed well during the night and there were no other incidents of wetness.

Saori continues to be happy and well adjusted. She is a dream to take care of. I have separated them and I keep all feeding implements completely separate and sterilised. I have to be careful not to accidentally infect Saori with any germs.

Instalment 12 Monday 18 April 2011

Again another regular day. Today it is raining and really quite a good day to be curled up in bed with a good book, or in my case, a couple of possums.

Both possums continue to do well. They are fine in the larger pouch together, however, they don't seem to do too much cuddling up with each other. I think there is a healthy respect there in the bag.

I feel like a pig in mud taking care of these babies.

My friend Linda and I were due to meet up today for coffee at Hawkins, but because of the rain we decided to have a catch up at my house. Linda got a chance to see the babies feeding. She too got 'sucked in' by their gorgeous little personalities.

Instalment 11 Sunday 17 April 2011

Both possums doing well and we seem to be settling into a pretty good routine. Nothing much out of the ordinary to report today.

Saori continues to win our hearts and is proving to be a very inquisitive young lady. I call her my little princess. She is such a pet. Oh, boy...does she love her cuddles. She is getting to know me very well and I am happy with the way she has adopted us as her family as well.

Instalment 9 Friday 15 April 2011

Yesterday I received a call from Gillian. She told me she had a new baby girl possum as a mate for Tamigotchi, who was an orphan and had been found at Cleveland. The vets phoned Gillian and she went and collected her, looked her over and rang me.

So this afternoon I went and collected her from Gillian. Ian got busy thinking up names and came up with Saori. Sounds so weird. Here we are raising Australian native wildlife and all the little Aussie possums we are raising have Japanese names. Go figure. Oh well, no harm done.

I weighed Tamigotchi before I went over to Gillian's and he weighed in at 74 grams, so he is putting on weight. As of yesterday, Thursday, I've had Tamigotchi for one week (7 days) and he was 59 grams. Now after a week, he has grown to 74 grams. I think that is a pretty good gain. I took Tamigotchi along for the ride so Gillian could take another look at him just to make sure he was doing well.

Little Saori is just a delight. She is very tiny but not a pinky. She looks a little smaller than what Tamigotchi was when I found him. Saori likes to cuddle in and she is very delicate and extremely cute.

We tried to put them together but decided, in the end that they might just need a little more time to get used to one another.

When I got them both home, I settled Tamigotchi down and then I spent time cuddling and getting to know Saori. She is an absolute delight and already I can see a huge difference in their personalities.

Saori settled in very quickly, though she didn't seem too interested in eating very much. She is a very social creature as opposed to Tamigotchi, who is really very shy.

Instalment 8 Thursday 14 April 2011

Tamigotchi is thriving and continues to eat well. I don't really have too much to report today, except that I found Tamigotchi seven days ago, so he has been with us one whole week now.

I continue to love him and enjoy the quiet times where we just get to sit and cuddle. He is a beautiful little boy.

Instalment 6 Tuesday 12 April 2011

Tamigotchi continues to eat well and is really quite a shy little fellow. Ian says we don't know what his circumstances are. He may have suffered a big fall before I found him. His mother may have booted him out of the pouch, or a larger sibling may have bullied him. Who knows what his story is? We can only guess at what he endured before coming to live with us. There could be all sorts of reasons why he is so shy and sensitive, besides the obvious that he is in a very 'scary' place right now, trying to come to terms with who all these strange people are and all the strange smells that are in the air.

When he is out of his pouch, he sniffs the air trying to get a grip on his new surroundings, but probably feels overwhelmed with all the changes he has faced during the last few days.

I understand this only too well, but the difference for Tamigotchi between the choice of
a) having to endure these changes or, b) being left to fend for himself and certain death is very clear for me. Option b) was never ever going to be an option once I found him.

So, we've been making the best of the situation and the result is hopefully, that Tamigotchi gets a second chance at a life that eventually will include playing in his future favourite trees here at Willow Pond, and eventually having his own little family.

He feels secure in his little pouch but doesn't like to venture out too much. I lift him out and cradle him securely to feed him and then I attempt to toilet him by using some tissue. This practice emulates the mother possum and helps to keep the possum's pouch clean. It is important to do this after every feed. He seems quite comfortable with me handling him and never makes too big of a fuss. As soon a he is fed, been to the 'bathroom' and had long, delicious cuddles, he readily snuggles into the dark, warmed confined space of his pouch to sleep away the daylight hours.

He's been with us five days now and we seemed to have worked out our routines quite well. I still seem to be coping with the broken sleep patterns, though I guess, time will tell.

Instalment 5 Monday 11 April 2011

Tamigotchi was very sleepy when I went to give him his first morning feed. He took a little while to stir. It initially made me a little worried, but I gradually relaxed when I realised he was just sleepy after all and was indeed, okay. I remembered I'd earlier heard him making his clucking noise inside his pouch, so my common sense should have kicked in. But it is really hard not to worry.

After he ate, I spent some time cuddling him. My maternal instincts took over and I felt the need to nurture him and let him know that he was not alone. It's most important that he doesn't feel alone because he needs a community to survive. He snuggled into my nightie, yes, you guessed it - near my chest, and fell asleep after his breakfast, and I was happy for him to be there.

Last night I gave Gillian, my mentor a courtesy call to let her know how things were progressing. I gave her an update on our little guy. We made an appointment to meet up on Tuesday, about 2 pm, so she could check him out and see for herself how he was doing.

I spent most of the night, well, up to 2:30am putting together all my students' entries to a couple of major poetry and short story competitions. I couldn't go any longer past 2:30am. I was exhausted.

I fed Tamigotchi and climbed into bed - exhausted and knowing that the alarm was set for 6:30am. Some sleep-in.

Instalment 3 Saturday 9 April 2011

Ian has named the little guy, Tamigotchi. He says the possum reminds him of the Tamigotchi toys the kids were all into a few years back. They were a form of virtual pet and I guess that pretty much sums up the relationship we will build with Tamigotchi. He can never be a pet. But, for now, he can be our virtual pet...with a very real feeding routine, and broken sleep for me. It reminds me of when I would get up to feed my own babies. You just do it because you need to do it. No different for baby possums at all.

Tamigotchi continues to eat well and I feel confident now that when I hand him over to a Wildlife Carer, the hard work is already done. They'll just need to continue the routine because he certainly knows how to eat.

He now weighs 61 grams, so he is definitely putting on weight, which is a good sign. He bit me again because I am awkward when it comes to handling him. He is all legs, arms and tail. His tail is quite strong as well and everything gets all tangled up. I don't think he appreciates me trying to weigh him.

Well today is definitely decision day. I owe it to Tamigotchi to make some serious decisions. He is settled, eating well, sleeping well and going to the toilet fine, so I am content that everything is going to plan, short term.

Now I have to do something with the long term plan and find someone that I trust to do right by him. It's his best interests that still lie in my heart.

I found various websites with basic information, but the one called BARN really stuck out for me. The information on their site was really useful and written in a way that was clear and easy to understand. BARN is located at Rocklea, an area not really all that far away from Willow Pond. They also had a phone number, so I decided that because these people really seemed to know what they were talking about, I would call them.

I got all psyched up to call, but when I finally did, it was a wrong number. You can imagine my disappointment. This pushed me into a corner. I would have to call the vets. I was still reluctant to call the vets because they are always so busy and I would not get to talk with a carer. I would have to surrender him and leave his fate in someone else's hands. I felt a bit sick to the stomach. He would have to wait on his own and it is always noisy at the vets with barking dogs, etc. I didn't want him to get stressed out like that. It was making me stressed just thinking about it.

But, I did it. Finally. The vets confirmed for me that I would need a permit if I was considering the option of caring for Tamigotchi. Otherwise I could take him in to them and surrender him. The other option was that I could bring him in for a vet to look at him and pay for the service as if he was a pet of mine.

I asked them if they could organise for me to speak with a wildlife carer. I explained that what I was hoping for was the opportunity to have a wildlife carer mentor who could help me raise Tamigotchi so that he could be released back onto Willow Pond. The receptionist went a way for a moment and when she returned she told me they would have to call me back.

I waited for quite some time for the vet to phone back. My head was still going at a hundred mile an hour and then I remembered a previous conversation I'd had with my friend Jill, who lives in my neighbourhood. She mentioned there was a bird sanctuary or something like that on a road behind her property. I phoned Jill to ask her if she knew the phone number of these people; wildlife people would be great a networking and I felt that if I could talk to these bird sanctuary people, they might know someone. Jill was on her way out to get Thai for lunch and told me she would phone her friend when she got home. Jill did not know the bird people personally, but her friend did.

So, I waited.

While I waited the phone rang. It was the vets phoning to apologise for taking so long, but they were unable to organise a carer to speak with me, but they did give me a phone number for a Redland Bay area wildlife group. I thanked them for their help and decided to wait now until I heard back from Jill.

Finally she called. The reason she took so long was because she is not just a friend who says  she will help, she gets in and gets her hands dirty. Instead of just ringing me back with a phone number, she found out from her friend where the bird people lived and drove around to see them. She met them and explained my situation. When she phoned me, she handed the phone to a lady called Nat who wanted to speak with me and she asked me lots of questions and then explained the tough job of raising baby ringtail possums. The road apparently is fraught with dangers and things that can go wrong. She spoke to me for quite some time and then she told me the name of a wildlife carer in my local area. This carer only lived two roads over from me. Jill popped back on the phone and said she was going to drive around, pick me up and take me to Gillian's place.

I got Tamigotchi all packed up and organised. I took him around to all the family to say goodbye and whilst I was a little sad, I felt that it was for the best. I had managed, with the help of a friend, to find a carer close to Willow Pond and it made me feel much more comfortable about handing him over.

Jill arrived and we loaded up and drove over to Gillian's house. Gillian is a softly spoken lady who is very calm around animals and wildlife. She is close to my age. Her home is full to brimming with dogs, birds, baby joey wallabies that are in care. She works full time as a wildlife carer and also runs a dog sitting business, a dog grooming business and makes homemade soaps and teats which she sells at the Chandler Markets. She is such an interesting lady. I immediately felt very comfortable with her. Her husband Warren busily worked outside keeping the property up to scratch with whipper snipping and mowing and it is obvious he is a great support to Gillian.

We spent quite some time together. She listened to my story about Tamigotchi and asked me lots of questions. I was a little disappointed to learn that she had only just passed along three baby possums to another carer within the last couple of days. I knew it was very important for Tamigotchi to have mates as ringtails need company and community. Brushtails don't mind being on their own, but ringtails are very social.

I told Gillian all I had learnt off the Internet about possums over the past couple of days and I think I must have impressed her a little, because then the darnedest thing happened. Gillian said to me, "If you join BARN for $15, I will be your mentor."

I was blown away that out of all the websites I had viewed, it was BARN's website that I took the most notice of and now here was Gillian telling me that if I joined BARN she would mentor me. I really felt it was one of those 'do-do-do-do' moments.

So it seemed I had found a mentor after all. I was now going to get the opportunity to have a go at raising Tamigotchi myself, under the watchful eye of Gillian. She told me she would network with others to find another ringtail to raise with Tamigotchi.

Gillian spent more time talking to me about the process of soft release, which is what we would be leading up to for Tamigotchi. She weighed him and had a good look over him. On her scales he weighed 57 grams, but my scales had read 59 grams and then 61 grams. Anyway, it didn't really matter too much. Gillian taught me how to work out a proper feeding regime so that Tamigotchi would eat between ten and twenty percent of his weight and he would now be on four hourly feeds which would be great for me, especially through the night. She also got him to do a wee so she could check that he was okay in that department.

Gillian kindly put together all the things I would need to take care of the little guy. She gave me some handmade fleecy pouches, syringes for feeding, I bought some proper milk product from her called Divetelact, a couple of her handmade teats, some large safety pins and an information pack - more necessary reading. She also gave me a little plastic cage for when he got a little bigger.

His feeding regime would be 3 mls every 4 hours.

Jill patiently waited while all this was being worked out, then we loaded up and drove home. I had Tamigotchi in his little pouch stuck down the front of my bra. This kept him warm and secure, listening to my heart beat. The things us Possum mums have to do.

When we arrived home I invited Jill in for a drink, which she accepted. The family were all a little surprised when I arrived home with Tamigotchi, but somehow I don't think they were all that surprised. I updated the family on the process of raising little Tamigotchi.

It is not always an easy road raising ringtails and apparently there are many diseases and problems that can crop up out of the blue and cause death. Hearing and reading about all these problems makes me extremely nervous. But what can I do? The only thing I can do is to give it my best shot.


It is scary, but most things worth doing are usually the scariest. I will be praying that Tamigotchi stays strong and well. I think he is a survivor and I'm going to do everything in my power to help him survive.

I don't even know how long possums live for once they make it to adulthood.

Instalment 2 - Friday 8 April 2011

I woke up a little bleary-eyed this morning after setting the alarm for the two hourly feeds my new little friend needs. With each feed he gets a little better at managing the syringe. I don't have a teat or anything on the end of the syringe, so it's not the best situation, but beggars can't be choosers.

The morning progresses well and I quickly discover he is a bit of a master on the syringe by now. He's quite a strong little guy and during the night my confidence grew with each feed. I think he is going to make it, and I now believe I can help him along the way.

I still don't know what sex he or she is, but for blogging purposes, I am going to make an uneducated guess and call him a he. He slept really well through the night and it didn't take much for me to notice that he loves getting the top of his head rubbed. I am happy to oblige.

After each feed, I gently massage his little body and he goes right off to sleep. I continue to feed him every two hours through today. He is just gorgeous and my heart fills with love for him. How could you not fall in love with such a precious little honey?

By afternoon he is quite the expert on the syringe and I somehow get the impression that he loves his food. He drinks about 1.5ml of diluted Carnation milk each feed.

I did some more reading on the Internet about possums and I am confident he is definitely a ringtail possum. An odd feeling begins to invade my space. I am beginning to feel very torn and uneasy with whom I should notify about this little guy. I really want to do what's best for him, but deep inside, I know this is his home and he should remain here. Oh, I don't know! This is not very easy.

I feel very protective. I want to speak to someone whom I can trust to help me make the right decision for him. I've done a lot of thinking since yesterday and realise this situation is not so cut and dried.

Some deep thought needs to go into this little guy's situation. I am thinking of the big picture. Willow Pond is his home. When he grows up, he is meant to be here. It's his birthright and there is no reason why he shouldn't remain here.

If I could find a mentor I know that I could raise him well. I'd certainly give it my best shot. I'm not silly. I know I could never raise a possum by myself. I know I'd need some help.

Now it was up to me to find someone. I'd have to think about this some more.

Another problem is - I don't have a permit.

After doing further reading I discover that you need a permit to raise wildlife. Well, that makes sense and I don't have a problem with that. Now I need to sign up to be a wildlife carer. That can't be too hard now, can it?

By afternoon, I decide to weigh the little guy. I use my digital kitchen scales. He weighs 59 grams. He is so little and there's not much to him.

His fur is smooth and shiny. I now know for sure from my latest reading, he is not what they call a 'pinky' (furless). Judging from the information, I take a guess that he is between 110 - 115 days old. Ringtails apparently don't get to grow too big.

Some more interesting information I discover is that I need to wipe his bottom gently with a tissue after he eats to encourage him to go to the toilet. I used to have to do this with Kayla's three puppies when I had to take over raising them after Kayla developed severe mastitis. You don't need to rub hard. It is more a tickle with the tissue.

I tried this the next time I fed him, however, it was a little tricky and awkward and in the end I wasn't sure I'd been very successful.

During the evening he becomes decidedly more active. I found a cute basket to make a bed for him in it. When it was time for me to go to bed I carried him upstairs in the basket and set him down on my bedside table, all tucked in for the night. His last feed had been at 12:30am and I was ready to hit the sack. I set the alarm for 2:30am and turned out the lights.

At about 12:20am I awoke to a sound that was not familiar. My brain finally identified the sound as one that comes from the little guy. I'd heard him make it before. The problem was that it didn't seem to be coming from the basket. It was coming from somewhere else in the room.

I got up carefully and turned on the light and dimmed it right down. The little guy was not in his basket and nor was Ian in bed. Ian, I discovered was in the bathroom. I knew I'd need to be careful about where I put my feet. I could still hear the little high pitched sound he was making. I made my way down towards to bottom of the bed and there he was, sitting in the middle of the floor and no doubt, very scared. I can believe that he escaped the sleeping puppies - again, and that Ian hadn't trod on him on the way to the bathroom. Once again his skin had been saved.

I pick him up and he bit me lightly on my forefinger. Cheeky! It didn't hurt, but it is always a surprise when he bites. He has bitten me a couple of times now. I'm a little awkward holding him yet, but I am getting better.

I collect his basket and make our way downstairs. It is now time for some milk. I quickly get everything ready and soon he is tucking in well. He is a spirited little guy.

Now I had to come up with a plan to contain him. I ended up using my netting throw that I use to cover food on the dining table to protect from nasty flies, etc. I spread it over the basket and secured it well. We climbed the stairs after I cleaned up the possum's things and I put the basket back on the bedside table. I left the light on dimmer and laid down and watched to see what would happen next.

I didn't have to wait long for a small silhouette to appear out of his bed. He spent a little bit of time climbing all around the basket inside of the netting, but then he when he discovered he couldn't escape, he burrowed back down into his covers and his hidey hole. Such a cutie.

The Rescue: Thursday 7 April 2011

Ahhh, day one of school holidays. Well teachers get pretty excited about school holidays too, you know. And it had been a long term of 11 weeks and all. I love my job. During school terms I work part-time teaching bright young primary students creative writing.

I had just had a very relaxing start to a very ordinary day. First a trip to the hairdressers and then off on one of my very favourite missions...a trip to Riverbend Books for some new titles and a coffee. Can it get much better than that? Nah! I don't think so. On the way  I got caught in two heavy downpours in what was a very sunny day here in Brisbane. Downpours are typical for Brisbane, even during our sunny periods.

With my field trip over for day, I drove home and slid the gate open, drove in, parked the car in the garage and proceeded to walk back to shut the gate, just like normal. But today turned out to be not quite so ordinary. For there near the gate, my eyes clapped sight of the smallest possum I'd ever seen in my life. All alone. At first I thought it was a rat!

I stopped short and just stared, gobsmacked. I wondered what would happen next. I wasn't sure what he was going to do. I was very careful not to make any scary or sudden moves. I quietly walked past him and slid the gate shut. My next thought was to find a towel to pick him up with. He hadn't moved.

I found an old towel quickly and then doing my best not to scare the living daylights out of the little guy, I delicately picked him up, gently wrapped him and cradled him in my hands.

Now what was I going to do?

I spent some time looking for mamma. We have possums living in our sheds, so I thought he must have fallen off his mother's back or something like that. I was hoping to find his mamma, but had no such luck. Where were they when you wanted them. Probably holed up somewhere sleeping the daylight away.

I managed to get my stuff inside and then I sat down and tried to warm up my new little friend. I hadn't been feeling that well for most of the day, so I decided this was a perfect way to make myself just sit down and relax. I found a comfy chair in the lounge room and sat down, put him close to my chest and began to warm him. I thought I'd wait until someone else came home and they could help me take him to the vets so he could be handed over to a Wildlife Carer.

I sat with him for hours. No one came home and while I waited I decided to open my laptop and google for information on possums. I didn't even know what sort of possum this little guy was at this point. Nor did I know if he was a she. I hadn't really looked at him all that much yet, but I remembered that he was a rusty red colour. The possums I'd seen in our shed, I thought, looked a different colour. They were more grey, but babies sometimes start out as one colour and change when they get their adult fur.

After a short time, I decided to go across to the shed to try to find a hot water bottle and something I could make a little pouch out of. I didn't come up with the water bottle yet, but I managed to find a little dog's knitted jacket that belonged to my son's dog, Ewok. It was perfect to keep the possum in so that he would be warm and feel secure. I somehow managed to transfer him into this new pouch and he didn't seem to mind.

I spent a long time trying to navigate my way around the minefield of information. I couldn't really find very many websites about Australian possums. It began to get dark outside and still no one had come home yet. The little possum was now very settled and seemed quite unperturbed by everything.


I read an article on an official Victorian Wildlife Sanctuary website that for emergency purposes you could feed small possums diluted Carnation milk. Well, I had some of that in my pantry and we have horses and I knew we had some clean syringes (not the needles) here for the times we've needed to inject horses. I carried the little guy around with me and found these things. I diluted and heated the milk to skin temperature and then filled up the sterilised syringe and gave it my best shot.

At first, I was very clumsy in the way I held the little guy. I'd never held a possum before and they have all these little toes and hooky feet, plus a very strong, curly tail. I was certainly very awkward and he didn't have a clue what was going on either. We muddled our way through though and I managed to get the syringe full of milk into his tummy; all 1.5 ml of it. But, hey...I was happy with that. Success.

By this stage I was beginning to think he was a little ringtail possum because I noticed the creamy-white tip on the end of his tail when he'd come unwrapped and the fur description on the website information matched his fur. So, okay. Now I had a very young ringtail possum on my hands. Literally.
By the time someone came home I decided, after reading what was involved in caring for the possums that I wouldn't take him down to the vet's tonight. If we did he would have to wait with barking dogs while a carer came to pick him up. I believed that I was responsible enough to be able to get up through the night for two hourly feeds. I'd raised my own babies, so I felt I owed it to this little guy. It all came down to common sense, really. I'd learnt by this stage that he was not what they call 'a pinky', (a furless ringtail possum), which meant he had a higher rate of survival, and the way he was eating, I really felt very comfortable that I would be fine taking care of him. Oh, and after another couple of searches in the shed I found the hot water bottle I was looking for. I was able to use this as a heat pad to keep him warm throughout the night.

So, that's how we began this journey.

I got up every two hours and reacquainted myself with the little guy throughout the wee small hours. Obviously he was quite alert during these periods. He seemed to really enjoy it when I gently 'fairy brushed' his back and head and rubbed around his ears. His mother would be doing this, so as a substitute mum, I tried to emulate what she would do. I did however draw the line at any licking to clean though. We'd have to find another way for that! Every time I held him, my heart grew bigger. During these feed times I always spend a little time with him held up against my chest so he could listen to my heartbeat.

So, until next time...
love from Willow Pond

Revamped: Cimmaron Soul to Willow Pond

This blog site has been dormant for a little while now, but it always stayed in the back of my mind. I kind of left it so I could set up my book club and writers' club blog and because I'm not a technological IT sort of person, these things take time for me to implement. So I contented myself with one blog at a time: my Novel Tea 'n Pages blog and left things be.

However, now I'm back with new ideas and decided this blog needed a name change and a revamp, which I proceeded to do. Now I'm ready to begin.

I hope along the way I meet up with many new readers. It takes awhile I know, but here's hoping.

I am going to start my blog rolling by sharing some adventures about the experience of being thrown into the deep end of a  world previously unknown by me. This world that I speak of is that of 'Wildlife Carer'. It wasn't planned at all. I just kind of fell into it. But I won't spoil it here.

I plan to chronicle my journey because you see, this adventure was born out of necessity and the fact that I have a soft heart, or maybe because I am a 'soft touch'? Well, it doesn't matter. The thing is I began this journey with zero knowledge and have been on a steep learning curve the whole time, but I feel like I'm coming up to speed fast.

Like everything new, there are times I feel confident and other times not so confident, but there's no choice, you just keep pushing on through and hopefully at the end, there will be reward.

So, I hope you decide to join me on my journey. I hope that over time I end up building a journal that might prove useful to any novice that finds themselves in the situation I recently found myself in.

so, until next time...
love from Willow Pond